Many athletes use pain as the end point of an exercise workout, measuring their success by their degree of soreness. The body gives many signals letting you know you are nearing your safe limits of exercise. You just have to become aware of what those signals are. Some examples include perceived exertion, feelings of fatigue, shortness of breath, having to concentrate harder, and/or sweating more. Sports, by their very nature may invite injury.

The physical therapist is a key member of the total health care "team," trained to improve movement and function, relieve pain and expand mobility potential. Through educational programs of treatment, physical therapists can help existing exercise programs and provide preventive health care for athletes.

According to Heather Reeves, "The phrase 'no pain, no gain' is not an accurate statement. Actually, it is partially true.  It may be necessary to reproduce the patient’s symptoms in order to identify the exact structures which are involved. Treatment of injured structures, whether they be joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments or any combination of the above, may be uncomfortable. So, in essence, the rehabilitation will allow gradual improvement, despite discomfort and sometimes pain with treatment.

Decreasing muscle, fascial and connective tissue tightness can also increase tolerance to pain. Tightness in the fascia and connective tissue surrounding the nervous system can create a more sensitive system, which will stimulate the pain fibers more easily and will irritate the tissues surrounding the nerve fibers. If you can increase slack in the tissues around your nervous system, it makes your body less taut with less likelihood that your nerves will fire off pain signals.

You can use techniques to help increase your tolerance to pain, or you can modify your activities to allow the healing process to take place. Many physical therapy exercises include techniques to decrease the mechanical deformation of tissues, which helps alleviate pain.

The American Physical Therapy Association describes physical therapy as a form of health care that prevents, identifies, corrects and alleviates acute or prolonged dysfunction of movement of an anatomic or physiologic origin. Begun in time, physical therapy can often prevent permanent damage and relieve pain and discomfort. If a serious injury is neglected it might cause life long disability or even complete loss of function.

The staff at Avante Physical Therapy in Cary and Raleigh, NC can design a specific program for you or a member of your family that will maximize your full potential, so serious injuries will be held to a minimum. They can and will work with you to show you specific exercises, and will teach you how to maintain your optimal fitness level and alleviate muscle soreness and pain.